drewp29

Let me know what you figure out. I am going to replace the passenger's CV axle hopefully Friday night, and if that doesn't solve it, then I guess it is time to look at u-joints. I had initially planned on replacing all of them at some point, and I guess while I am at it I might as well take care of them anyway.

Yeah, I made sure the thrust washer was there. Initially I thought I might have left it on the old CV, but I checked the old CV and the new one when I re-installed it.

So it doesn't shudder when in 4wd with the hubs unlocked, or at least it doesn't shudder enough to differentiate between the shudder and the road bumps. When I am in 4wd with the hubs locked it feels like the passenger tire is flopping around on the spindle. It's that bad. But only when I get the rpms up. If I drive it easy it is still there in 4wd but it doesn't feel like the wheel is going to come off at any moment. I am about 90% sure it is the CV axle. It is very easily identified as the passenger tire that is experiencing the vibration. I have another axle on it's way (thanks Marty @ Raxles), so hopefully I put that one in and everything is golden.

The issue doesn't seem to be associated with the amount of throttle, but I guess that is something to consider. What were the symptoms when your u-joint was bad? When the shudder happens it feels like hitting the ruts on the side of the highway, and it stops as soon as it gets above about 3200 rpm.

Hmmm, I'll try to drive in 4wd with the hubs unlocked and see what happens. I re-installed the axle and the shudder is still there, so I am pretty certain the axle is bad. During the first installation I thought I was very careful with the axle and did not pull on the joints. I tried to get it in there with as little movement of the joints as possible. I measured my CV angles and I'm sitting right about at 20 degrees with the tire on the ground and 25-26 degrees with the tire in the air, so I don't think it is an extreme angle issue. Besides, the driver's side is fine and the angles match the passenger's side. If a bearing in the joint were to slide off would that also cause binding issues? The rotation is smooth throughout corners even at full lock pulling a u-turn. The vibration is most prominent in 2nd gear at about 3000-3200 rpms. It is there in first and third, but much less prominent. My thoughts are that at the particular speed the wheel is turning at in 2nd gear and 3k rpm is where the imbalance is hitting it's resonance frequency which why it shudders. I'll let you know what it does in 4wd with the hubs unlocked.

Hey XPLORx4 - I agree, do you think it would be alright to just do this as a test though? I am not gonna run it that way for more than a couple blocks just to see if the shudder is driver's or passenger's side. Edit: I'm not planning on running it in 4wd, just in 2wd since the shudder only happens with the hubs locked.

Al - Thanks for the heads up. I don't plan on running it locked/unlocked for more than probably a block or two just to get the feel for which side actually has the problem. BUT - yes, front diff experts please chime in!

Dude, I've seen hardtails ride downhill at Trestle . . . anything is possible

Fixed. I didn't know if it would work before I bought it so I bought a pickle fork too. Turns out the pitman arm puller was just about perfect.

Exactly. When he first mentioned a rebuild I figured he was talking about buying the CV joint parts, tearing the joint apart, and rebuilding the joints with new bearings and such. I suppose if you could figure out which joint on which side is problematic you could just replace the joint, but you'd probably end up replacing all of them in the end anyway. No worries man!

I am fairly certain the old ones are the OEM axles, but not totally sure. There are no indicating marks on them that would seem to suggest otherwise. How can you tell if they are OEM?

Is that $100 apiece?

I did consider the rebuild option, but the Raxles are a solid product, every bit as good as the OEM, if not better. What they do is take the OEM axle and add entirely new CV joints to it. Most reman axles have reground/rebuilt joints, which Raxles DOES NOT do. At 190 an axle, plus shipping, they aren't the cheapest option, but they are WAY cheaper than OEM at $483 an axle. Take a look at their website: www.raxles.com They have a pretty low failure rate, but let's face it, nobody is perfect - I figure I probably got a bad joint or unbalanced shaft. How much did it cost to rebuild your CVs?

So I bought some Raxles to replace my stock CVs which were clicking after the AC lift (170k miles on what appear to be the stock CVs, so I can't blame them for complaining after the AC lift put them at a pretty extreme angle). Overall, changing them wasn't that big a deal, in fact if I were only doing the CVs it would probably be about 1 hour per side. I changed the ball joints and sway bar links in the process, so it took a little bit longer. After I finished I took it for a test drive with the manual hubs locked, and I do not have the clicking anymore. I do however, have a pretty wicked shudder when the RPMs are above 3k. It feels like it is coming from the passenger side. I confirmed it is probably one of the CVs by unlocking the hubs and driving it hard. There is no shudder with the hubs unlocked and it drives great. So, my question is: If I lock one hub and drive around, will the opposite axle still spin? Or since it isn't coupled to the transfer case will it just sit there while the locked hub turns the locked axle? I want to try to isolate which side to be certain before going about figuring out if the axle is bad or just needs to be pulled and reinstalled. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Replaced my ball joints this past weekend. I bought a pitman arm puller for like $15 from Autozone. Worked like a charm. My ball joints weren't making noise or anything, but I had new ones and thought what the hey, might as well do them while I do the CV axles. Edit: And no BFH or banging required with the pitman arm puller.

Yes, you are correct on front vs back. I had the same issues when I got mine, there was no labeling, and the rear dampers were slid inside the fronts . . . which is what had me confused. I mean, why not put the shocks inside the rear coils for at least 'some sort' of identification? Oh well, I figured it out pretty quickly when I got the old struts out of the truck.

Funny, after several years of consuming domestic beer I started consuming it at an alarming rate. Concerned, I switched to micro-brews that were more full-bodied and my consumption decreased. It definitely didn't stop, but I drink less and enjoy it more . . .

Yeah, that's the only reason I haven't done it yet. Oh, my pathy is a 5-speed, so no power valve screws. I changed the spark plugs at 154k when I purchased it, so they should be alright. I am probably going to add an oil catch can while I am doing the PCV valve, just to see how much I collect over time, and potentially keep the engine from burning any bypass oil.

Hmmm, interesting. My Pathy does in fact consume oil, and it has ~170k miles on the odometer. I just chalked it up to a faulty PCV valve, which I am going to change soon. I'll still change the valve, and if nothing it still uses about a quart every 800-1000 miles then I will switch to a blend at the next oil change. Thanks for the input!

Andy - What kind of noise was yours making? Was it during articulation or turning the wheel?

I highly recommend a full synthetic. I don't know if the Pennzoil you have is FS, but if it isn't and it were me, I would take it back. I use Mobil 1 5W-30, but am considering a 0W-30 at my next change to see if I gain any MPGs. But I would listen to Town before anyone concerning lube, he knows his stuff.

LOL, I knew this would come up when the treadwrights were posted. The process they use is actually used by BFG on tires that have issues after the mold process. And BFG sells them as NEW tires. I don't want to make this a 'to retread or not to retread' debate, but research will show you that this is not a semi-truck recap tire, it is a re-mold process. Anyway, I digress, I'll shut up now . . .

Oh, and rocky2, yes, the camber was a huge PITA. Right now I have the top holes slotted and the spindle locked to the strut body with a camber bolt in the bottom hole at the max angle outward. But, the camber is perfect like this. As the springs settle I should be able to have some range in the negative camber, and I'll probably replace the camber bolts with the stock ones. I also had to trim quite a bit to fit the tires. The front of the front wells I cut off a bit of the well and moved the screw clips so it pulled the liner towards the front. Then I had to trim the bumper back to match. At the rear of the front well I had to trim the sheet metal behind the liner and then heat gun the liner to push it back. I still have a little rubbing on the outer tread blocks while backing up a hill and turning the wheel.

Yeah, I have had a few occasions where they have. Usually it happens when you are dropping a tire off a ledge. As long as I take it a little slower it is fine. Normal road bumps even at highway speeds are not an issue.

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